1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic software distribution, more particularly "Try/Buy" electronic software distribution.
2. State of the Art
The Internet is quickly becoming the preferred distribution medium for software that has heretofore been distributed in shrink-wrapped form. Files many megabytes in size can be easily downloaded in a period of minutes, and future increases in network bandwidth promise to make electronic software distribution even more convenient.
Electronic software distribution (ESD) follows one of two models, referred to herein as Buy/Try and Try/Buy. The Buy/Try model is consistent with shrink-wrapped software distribution in that the customer must first buy the software before being able to load and use the software. No opportunity is afforded to try the software prior to making a buying decision. In the Try/Buy model, the customer is allowed to try the software during a trial period. At the end of the trial period, the customer may decide to do nothing, in which case the software expires and becomes unusable, or may decide to purchase the software electronically through the Internet, in which case the trial software is converted to a paid-up copy.
Buy/Try ESD is technically straight-forward. Try/Buy ESD is technically more challenging. Only recently has there become available a tool (sold by the present assignee) that allows a software publisher to readily perform its own Try/Buy software "wrapping." Such wrapping involves the modification of one or more program executables and/or code libraries and is therefore performed, at least in part, prior to preparation of a setup file set and corresponding ruleset. Typically, the files of a software program are compressed, sometimes fully or partially encrypted and archived in a setup file set. A corresponding setup ruleset (stored in one or more files as part of the file set) describes what to do with each file during installation. An installer (e.g., "setup.exe") unpacks the archive and installs the various files in accordance with the setup ruleset. This process is well-known and widely followed throughout the software industry, and tools for performing the process are available from a number of different vendors including, for example, InstallShield Software Corporation of Schaumburg, Ill., Great Lakes Business Solutions Corporation of Canton, Minn., and 20/20 Software Corporation of Beaverton, Oreg. In the case of software intended for distribution over the Web, a further Web wrapper may be added that functions as a single container for the setup file set.
Because tools enabling software publishers to do Try/Buy self-wrapping have just recently become available, extensive electronic collections of software titles already exist where the software titles have previously been made ready for installation in accordance with the foregoing process. Presently, these software collections cannot be Try/Buy enabled.